Samuel Finley Breese, founder of the American system of electro-magnetic
telegraph,was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 27 April 1791; died in New
York City, 2 April 1872, was graduated at Yale in 1810, and in that
institution received his first instruction in electricity from Professor
Jeremiah Day, also attending the elder Silliman's lectures on chemistry and
galvanism. In 1809 he wrote:
"Mr. Day's lectures are very interesting;
they are upon electricity; he has given us some very fine experiments, the
whole class, taking hold of hands, form the circuit of communication, and we
all received the shock apparently at the same moment. I never took an
electric shock before; it felt as if some person had struck me a slight blow
across the arms."
His college career was perhaps more strongly marked by his
fondness for art than for science, and he employed his leisure time in
painting. He wrote to his parents during the senior year: "My price is five
dollars for a miniature on ivory, and I have engaged three or four at that
price. My price for profiles is one dollar, and everybody is willing to
engage me at that price." When he was released from his college duties, he had
no profession in view, but to be a painter was his ambition, and so he began
art studies under Washington Allston, and in 1811 accompanied him to London,
where soon afterward he was admitted to the Royal Academy. He remained in
London for four years, meeting many celebrities and forming an intimate
friendship with Charles R. Leslie, who became his room-mate. Under the
tuition of Allston and Benjamin West he made rapid progress in his art, and in
1813 exhibited a colossal "Dying Hercules" in the Royal Academy, which was
classed by critics as among the first twelve paintings there. The plaster
model that he made to assist him in his picture gained the gold medal of the
Adelphi Society of Arts. This was given when Great Britain and the United
States were at war, and was cited as an illustration of the impartiality with
which American artists were treated by England. The first portrait that he
painted abroad was of Leslie, who paid him a similar compliment, and later he
executed one of Zerah Colburn. He then set to work on an historical
composition to be offered in competition for the highest premium of the Royal
Academy, but, as he was obliged to return to the United States in August,
1815, this project was abandoned. Settling in Boston, he opened a studio in
that city, but, while visitors were glad to admire his "Judgment of Jupiter,"
his patrons were few. Finding no opportunities for historic painting, he
turned his attention to portraits during 1816-1817, visiting the larger towns
of Vermont and New Hampshire. Meanwhile he was associated with his brother
Sidney E. Morse, in the invention of an improved pump. In January 1818, he
went to Charleston, S.C., and there painted many portraits, his orders at
one time exceeding 150 in number. On 18 October 1818, he married Lucretia
Walker in Concord, New Hampshire, but in the following winter he returned to
Charleston, where he wrote to his old preceptor, Washington Allston: "I am
painting from morning till night, and have continual applications." Among his
orders was a commission from the city authorities for a portrait of James
Monroe, then president of the United States, which he painted in Washington,
and which, on its completion, was placed in the city hall of Charleston. In
1823 he settled in New York City, and after hiring as his studio "a fine room
on Broadway, opposite Trinity churchyard," he continued his painting of
portraits, one of the first being that of Chancellor Kent, which was followed
soon afterward by a picture of Fitz-Greene Halleck, now in the Astor library,
and a full-length portrait of Lafayette for the city of New York. During his
residence there he became associated with other artists in founding the New
York Drawing Association, of which he was made president. This led in 1826 to
the establishment of the National Academy of the Arts of Design, to include
representations from the arts of painting, sculpture, architecture, and
engraving. Morse was chosen its president, and so remained until 1842. He
was likewise president of the Sketch Club, an assemblage of artists that met
weekly to sketch for an hour, after which the time was devoted to social
entertainment, including a supper of "milk and honey, raisins, apples, and
crackers." About this time he delivered a series of lectures on "The Fine Arts"
before the New York Athenveum, which are said to have been the first on that
subject in the United States. Thus he continued until 1829, when he again
visited Europe for study, and for three years resided abroad, principally is
Paris and the art centres of Italy During 1826-1827 Professor James F. Dana
lectured on electro-magnetism and electricity before the New York Athenaeum.
Mr. Morse was a regular attendant, and, being a friend of Professor Dana, had
frequent discussions with him on the subject of his lectures. But the first
ideas of a practical application of electricity seem to have come to him while
he was in Paris. James Fenimore Cooper refers to the event thus: "Our worthy
friend first communicated to us his ideas on the subject of using the electric
spark by way of a telegraph. It was in Paris, and during the winter of
1831-1832." On 1 October 1832, he sailed from Havre on the packet-ship "Sully"
for New York, and among his fellow-passengers was Charles T. Jackson,
then lately from the laboratories of the great French physicists, where he
had made special studies in electricity and magnetism. A conversation in the
early part of the voyage turned on the recent experiments of Ampere with the
electro-magnet. When the question whether the velocity of electricity is
retarded by the length of the wire was asked, Dr. Jackson replied, referring
to Benjamin Franklin's experiments, that "electricity passes instantaneously
over any known length of wire." Morse then said: "If the presence of
electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason
why intelligence may not be transmitted instantaneously by electricity." The
idea took fast hold of him, and thenceforth all his energy was devoted to the
development of the electric telegraph. He said: "If it will go ten miles
without stopping, I can snake it go around the globe." At once, while on board
the vessel, he set to work and devised the dot-and-dash alphabet. The
electro-magnetic and chemical recording telegraph essentially as it now exists
was planned and drawn on shipboard, but he did not produce his working model
till 1835 nor his relay till later. His brothers placed at his disposal a
room on the fifth floor of the building on the corner of Nassau and Beeksnan
streets, which he used as his studio, workshop, bedchamber, and kitchen. In
this room, with his own hands, he first cut his models; then from these he
made the moulds and castings, and in the lathe, with the graver's tools, he
gave them polish and finish. In 1835 he was appointed professor of the
literature of the arts of design in the University of the City of New York,
and he occupied front rooms on the third floor in the north wing of the
university building, looking out on Washington square. Here he made his
apparatus, "made as it was, and completed before the first of the
year 1836. I was enabled to and did mark down telegraphic intelligible signs,
and to make and did snake distinguishable signs for telegraphing; and, having
arrived at that point, I exhibited it to some of my friends early in that
year, and among others to Professor Leonard D. Gale." His discovery of the
relay in 1835 made it possible for him to re-enforce the current after it had
become feeble owing to its distance from the source, thus making possible
transmission from one point on a main line, through great distances, by a
single act of a single operator. In 1836-1837 he directed his experiments
mainly to modifying the marking apparatus, and later in varying the modes of
uniting, experimenting with plumbago and various kinds of inks or
coloring-matter, substituting a pen for a pencil, and devising a mode of
writing on a whole sheet of paper instead of on a strip of ribbon. In
September 1837, the instrument was shown in the cabinet of the university to
numerous visitors, operating through a circuit of 1,700 feet of wire that ran
back and forth in that room.
His application for a patent, dated 28 September 1837, was
filed as a caveat at the United States patent-office, and in December of the
same year he made a formal request of congress for aid to build a
telegraph-line. The Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives, to
which the petition had been referred, reported favorably, but the session
closed without any action being taken. Francis O.J. Smith, of Maine,
chairman of the committee, became impressed with the value of this new
application of electricity, and formed a partnership with Mr. Morse. In May
1838, Morse went to Europe in the hope of interesting foreign governments in
the establishment of telegraph-lines, but he was unsuccessful in London. He
obtained a patent in France, but it was practically useless, as it required
the inventor to put his discovery into operation within two years, and
telegraphs being a government monopoly no private lines were permissible.
Mr. Morse was received with distinction by scientists in each country, and
his apparatus was exhibited under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences in
Paris, and the Royel Society in London. After an absence of eleven months he
returned to New York in May 1839, as he writes to Mr. Smith, "without a
farthing in my pocket, and have to borrow even for my meals, and, even worse
than this, I have incurred a debt of rent by my absence." Four years of
trouble and almost abject poverty followed, and at times he was reduced to
such want that for twenty-four hours he was without food. His only support
was derived from a few students that he taught art, and occasional portraits
that he was commissioned to paint. In the mean time, his foreign
competitors--Wheatstone in England, and Steinheil in Bavaria--were receiving
substantial aid, and making efforts to induce congress to adopt their systems
in the United States, while Norse, struggling to persuade his own countrymen
of the merits of his system, although it was conceded by scientists to be the
best, was unable to accomplish anything. He persisted in bringing the matter
before Congress after Congress, until at last a bill granting him $30,000 was
passed by the house on 23 February 1842, by a majority of eight, the vote
standing 90 to 82. On the last day of the session he left the capitol
thoroughly disheartened, but found next morning that his bill had been rushed
through the Senate without division on the night of 3 March 1843. There were
yet many difficulties to be overcome, and with renewed energy he began to
work. His intention was to place the wires in leaden pipes, buried in the
earth. This proved impracticable, and other methods were devised. Ezra
Cornell then became associated with him, and was charged with the
laying of the wires, and after various accidents it was ultimately decided to
suspend the wires, insulated, on poles in the air. These difficulties had not
been considered, as it was supposed that the method of burying the wires,
which had been adopted abroad, would prove successful. Nearly a year had been
exhausted in making experiments, and the congressional appropriation was
nearly consumed before the system of poles was resorted to. The construction
of the line between Baltimore and Washington, a distance of about forty miles,
was quickly accomplished, and on 11 May 1844, Mr. Morse wrote to his
assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, "Everything worked well." Among the
earliest messages, while the line was still in an experimental condition, was
one from Baltimore announcing the nomination of Henry Clay to the presidency
by the Whig convention in that city. The news was conveyed on the railroad to
the nearest point that had been reached by the telegraph, and thence instantly
transmitted over the wires to Washington. An hour later passengers arriving
at Washington were surprised to find that the news had preceded them. By the
end of the month communication between the two cities was complete, and
practically perfect. The day that was chosen for the public exhibition was 24
May 1844, when Mr. Morse invited his friends to assemble in the chamber of
the United States Supreme Court, in the Capitol, at Washington, while his
assistant, Mr. Vail, was in Baltimore, at the Mount Claire depot. Miss Annie
G. Ellsworth, daughter of Henry L. Ellsworth then Commissioner of Patents,
chose the words of the message. As she had been the first to announce to Mr.
Morse the passage of the bill granting the appropriation to build the line, he
had promised her this distinction. She selected the words "What hath God
wrought," taken from Numbers xxiii., 23. They were received at once by Mr.
Vail, and sent back again in an instant. The strip of paper on which the
telegraphic characters were printed was claimed by Governor Thomas H.
Seymour, of Connecticut, on the ground that Miss Ellsworth was a native of
Hartford, and is now preserved in the archives by the Hartford Athenaeum. Two
days later the National Democratic Convention met in Baltimore and nominated
James K. Polk for the presidency. Silas Wright, of New York, was then chosen
for the vice-presidency, and the information was immediately conveyed by
telegraph to Morse, and by him communicated to Mr. Wright, then in the Senate
Chamber. A few minutes later the convention was astonished by receiving a
telegram from Mr. Wright declining the nomination. The despatch was at once
read before the convention, but the members were so incredulous that there was
an adjournment to await the report of a committee that was sent to Washington
to get reliable information on the subject Morse offered his telegraph to the
United States Government for $100,000, but, while $8,000 was voted for
maintenance of the initial line, any further expenditure in that direction was
declined. The patent then passed into private hands, and the Morse system
became the property of a joint-stock company called the Magnetic Telegraph
Company. Step by step, sometimes with rapid strides, but persistently, the
telegraph spread over the United States, although not without accompanying
difficulties. Morse's patents were violated, his honor disputed, and even his
integrity was assailed, and rival companies devoured for a time all the
profits of the business, but after a series of vexatious lawsuits his rights
were affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. In 1846 he was granted an
extension of his patent, and ultimately the Morse system was adopted in
France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and Australia. The following
statement, made in 1869 by the Western Union Telegraph Company, the largest
corporation of its kind in the world, is still true: "Nearly all the
machinery employed by the company belongs to the Morse system. This telegraph
is now used almost exclusively everywhere, and the time will probably never
come when it will cease to be the leading system of the world. Of more than a
hundred devices that have been made to supersede it, not one has succeeded in
accomplishing its purpose, and it is used at the present time upon more than
ninety-five per cent of all the telegraph-lines in existence." The
establishment of the submarine telegraph is likewise due to Morse. In
October 1842, he made experiments with a cable between Castle Garden and
Governor's Island. The results were sufficient to show the practicability of
such an undertaking. Later he held the office of electrician to the New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, organized for the purpose of
laying a cable across the Atlantic ocean. While in Paris during March 1839,
Morse, met Daguerre, and became acquainted with his process of reproducing
pictures by the action of sunlight on silver salts. He had previously
experimented in the same lines while residing in New Haven, but without
success. In June of the same year, after the French government had purchased
the method from Daguerre, he communicated the details to Morse, who succeeded
in acquiring the process, and was associated with John W. Draper in
similar experiments. For some time afterward, until the telegraph absorbed
his attention, he was engaged in experimenting toward the perfecting of the
daguerreotype, and he shares with Professor Draper the honor of being the
first to make photographs of living persons. Morse also patented a machine
for cutting marble in 1823, by which he hoped to be able to produce perfect
copies of any model. In 1847 he purchased property on the east bank of the
Hudson, near Poughkeepsie, which he called "Locust Grove," where, after his
marriage in 1848 to Sarah E. Griswold, he dispensed a generous hospitality,
entertaining eminent artists and other notable persons. Soon afterward he
bought a city residence on Twenty-second street, where he spent the winters,
and on whose front since his death a marble tablet has been inserted, bearing
the inscription, "In this house S.F.B. Morse lived for many years and
died."
He had many honors. Yale gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1846, and in 1842
the American Institute gave him its gold medal for his experiments. In 1830
he was elected a corresponding member of the Historical Institute of France,
in 1837 a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium, in 1841
corresponding member of the National Institution for the Promotion of Science
in Washington, in 1845 corresponding member of the Archaeological Society of
Belgium, in 1848 a member of the American Philosophical Society, and in 1849 a
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Sultan of Turkey
presented him in 1848 with the decoration of Nishan Iftichar, or Order of
Glory, set in diamonds. A golden snuff-box, containing the Prussian Golden
Medal for Scientific Merit, was sent him in 1851; the great Gold Medal of Arts
and Sciences was awarded him by Wurtemberg in 1852, and in 1855 the Emperor of
Austria sent him the great Gold Medal of Science and Art. France made him a
Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1856, Denmark conferred on him the cross
of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1856, Spain gave him the honor of knighthood
and made him commander of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic in 1859,
Portugal made him a Knight of the Tower and Sword in 1860, and Italy conferred
on him the insignia of Chevalier of the Royal Order of Saints Lazaro Mauritio
in 1864. In 1856 the telegraph companies of Great Britain gave him a banquet
in London. At the instance of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French,
representatives of France, Austria, Sweden, Russia, Sardinia, the Netherlands,
Turkey, Holland, the Papal States, and Tuscany, met in Paris during August,
1858, to decide upon a collective testimonial to Morse, and the result, of
their deliberations was a vote of 400,000 francs. During the same year the
American Colony of France entertained him at a dinner given in Paris, over
which John S. Preston presided. On the occasion of his later visits to
Europe he was received with great distinction. As he was returning from
abroad in 1868 he received an invitation from his fellow citizens, who united
in saying" "Many of your fellow countrymen and numerous personal friends
desire to give a definite expression of the fact that this country is in full
accord with European nations in acknowledging your title to the position of
the father of the modern telegraph, and at the same time in a fitting manner
to welcome you to your home." The day selected was 30 December 1868, and
Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, presided
at the banquet in New York. On 10 June 1871, he was further honored by the
erection of a bronze statue of himself in Central Park. Voluntary
contributions had been gathered for two years from those who in various ways
were connected with the electric telegraph. The statue is of heroic size,
modelled by Byron M. Pickett, and represents Morse as holding the first
message that was sent over the wires. In the evening of the same day a
reception was held in the Academy of Music, at which many eminent men of the
nation were present. At the hour of nine the chairman announced that the
telegraphic instrument before him, the original register employed in actual
service, was connected with all the wires of the United States, and that the
touch of the finger on the key would soon vibrate throughout the continent.
The following message was then sent: "Greeting and thanks to the telegraph
fraternity throughout the land. Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace,
good will to men." At the last click of the instrument, Morse struck the
sounder with his own name, amid the most extravagant applause. When the
excitement had subsided, the chairman said: "Thus the father of the
telegraph bids farewell to his children." The last public service that he
performed was the unveiling of the statue of Benjamin Franklin in Printing
House Square, on 17 January 1872, in the presence of a vast number of
citizens, he had cheerfully acceded to the request that he would perform "this
act," remarking that it would be his last. It was eminently appropriate that
he should do this, for, as was said: "The one conducted the lightning safely
from the sky; the other conducts it beneath the ocean, from continent to
continent. The one tamed the lightning, the other makes it minister to human
wants and human progress." Shortly after his return to his home he was seized
with neuralgia in his head, and after a few months of suffering he died.
Memorial sessions of Congress and of various state legislatures were held in
his honor. "In person," says his biographer, "Professor Morse was tall,
slender, graceful, and attractive. Six feet in stature, he stood erect and
firm even in his old age. His blue eyes were expressive of genius and
affection. His nature was a rare combination of solid intellect and delicate
sensibility. Thoughtful, sober, and quiet, he readily entered into the
enjoyments of domestic and social life, indulging in sallies of humor, and
readily appreciating and enjoying the wit of others. Dignified in his
intercourse with men, courteous and affable with the gentler sex, he was a
good husband, a judicious father, a generous and faithful friend." He was a
ready writer, and, in addition to several controversial pamphlets concerning
the telegraph, he published poems and articles in the "North American Review."
He edited the "Remains of Lucretia Maria Davidson" (New York, 1829), to which
he added a personal memoir, and also published "Foreign Conspiracy against
the Liberties of the United States" (1835) ; "Imminent Dangers to the Free
institutions of the United States through Foreign Immigration, and the Present
State of the Naturalization Laws, by an American," originally contributed to
the "Journal of Commerce" in 1835, and published anonymously in 1854;
"Confessions of a French Catholic Priest, to which are added Warnings to the
People of the United States, by the same Author" (edited and published with an
introduction, 1837); and "Our Liberties defended, the Question discussed, Is
the Protestant or Papal System most Favorable to Civil and Religious Liberty?"
(1841).
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